How to Build Brand 'You'

 

FACEBOOK

SPEND A DAY ON YOUR ‘ABOUT’ SECTION

“People click on it the minute they want to see your life graph,” Neeraj says. “Make sure you specify your designation at each place you worked at. Keep it updated and clean. There’s nothing more unappealing than seeing that somebody is listed as working somewhere they used to work six years ago.”

ENGAGEMENT 101

“Research shows that videos get the best engagement on Facebook, so start creating that video content ASAP,” says Priya. “Posts with tags, however, get the least amount of engagement, so avoid that like the plague.”

DON’T BE A VOYEUR

“Interact and contribute to conversations instead of staring at them from afar,” Ashok advises. “Engagement is key, but at no point should you cross over into being controversial and confrontational. For most people, Facebook is a space for interacting with family and friends, so never lose sight of that.”

DIFFERENTIATE YOUR CONTENT

“Posting about what’s topical just makes you a part of a wave,” Ankita says. “Posting something that separates you from the clutter, and is still intelligent, thought-out and provoking is much more likely to get you results.”

SEO THE SH*T OUT OF YOUR PAGE

“If you’re creating a page on Facebook, don’t overlook the SEO words aspect—many people do,” Priya warns. “Make sure that section is solid, because Facebook pages rank high in Google searches for brands.”

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INSTAGRAM

LET YOUR PHOTO BE YOUR BIO

“Since there’s not much place to introduce yourself verbally, do it visually,” Neeraj says. “Let your profile photo be indicative of your personality—it gives somebody a sense of who you are, much more than something generic (like a bathroom selfie) would.”

THE HASHTAG HOLY GRAIL

“With Instagram, more is more,” Priya says. “The more hashtags a post has, the more people are likely to engage with it. But hashtagging irrelevant things is damaging—it can make people disregard your post altogether. So make sure your hashtags tie in to what you’re saying specifically.”

REGULARISE YOUR HASHTAGS

“Research the hashtags that link your area of interest to you, and use them regularly,” Ashok says [examples: ‘#Indianblogger or #artIndia]. “Soon, people will begin to associate those hashtags—and thereby, that area of interest—with you.”

NEVER OVERSHARE

“Being too close to your work is dangerous, social-media wise,” Ankita warns. “If you only share your work, people will still only remember a select few things. It’s best to decide for them what those things will be by curating your own work—pare it down to your top five, and post

away.”

INTERSPERSE YOUR POSTS

“Sure, an attractive profile picture is great,” Neeraj says, “but if you don’t break up posts about yourself with posts on other subjects, you risk looking shallow—and while it will help you quickly build a following, it

won’t help you sustain it.”

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TWITTER

HOLD THAT HASHTAG

“Topical hashtags are key, but too many hashtags can disengage a reader,” Keya says. “Two is the maximum amount of hashtags you should have in any post.”

CURATE YOUR FOLLOWERS

“Don’t just follow the people you like—
follow people you think will respond to your work,” Keya advises. “Also, make sure you follow the leaders in your industry, and don’t
be afraid to engage them in topics of interest by Tweeting at their handle.”

LINK YOUR BIO

“Always add a link to something that provides deeper information about you and your work (a blog, your website, etc) in your ‘About’ section, because the few characters Twitter has aren’t enough to give a truly comprehensive idea of ‘you’,” Keya says.

GET FAMILIAR WITH ANALYTICS
“Your engagement score is just as valuable as your followers,” Keya tells us. “It’s what gives you a real idea of how many people are actually consuming your content and interacting with it, so make sure you check out your analytics page. A good way to build that engagement is to Tweet something shareable—so choose trending topics instead of just Tweeting about yourself.”

TWEET ABOUT YOUR INDUSTRY

“If you work in an industry, regularly Tweet about current events, news and happenings in that,” Keya advises. “It not only makes you seem engaged with your field, it make you look more hireable to employers as well.”